VISVESVARAYA TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY, BELGAUM, KARNATAKA, INDIA

A SEMINAR REPORT ON PLASTIC MEMORY Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of degree of BACHELOR OF ENGINEERING IN ELECTRONICS & COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING For the year 2010-2011 SUBMITTED BY SANJEEV KUMAR 1BC07EC043 UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF Mr. G.KESAVAN M.E, (Ph.D) Asst. Professor of ECE department BCET, Bangalore- 560081.

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS & COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING BANGALORE COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY Near Heelalige Railway Station, Chandapura, Bangalore-81.

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CONTENTS
Chapter 1Introduction

4 4 5 7 8 8 2.1.2 SRAM 9 10 2.2.2 PROM 11 12

1.1 Market value of organic devices 1.2 Overview of plastic memory

Chapter 1Types of Memory

2.1 Random Access Memory 2.1.1 DRAM 9 2.2 Read Only Memory 2.2.1 Hardwired ROM 10 2.2.3 EPROM 2.3 Hybrid Memory
2.3.1 EEPROM

12 2.3.2 Flash memory 2.3.3 Plastic memory

Chapter 1Introduction to PEDOT Chapter 2Spintronics

13 13 14 16 16 4.2 Charge and write using vs Spin

4.1 Introduction to spintronic 17 4.2 17

Chapter 3Plastic memory device

Read

spintronics 18 18 18

5.1 About the technology 5.2 Structure of plastic memory

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5.2.1 18

Basic 5.2.2

property Device

of

Plastic structure 20 20 21 22

19 5.3 Working of Plastic Memory 5.3.1 Storing of Data in Plastic Memory 5.3.2 Reading & erasing of data 5.3.3 Read Write Erase Cycle

Chapter 4Fabrication of Plastic Memory

23 23 6.2 Fabrication Process 25 26 28 29 30

6.1 Reel to Reel system 24

Chapter 5Comparison of Plastic Memory with Flash Memory Chapter 6Advantages & Limitations Chapter 7Application

Conclusion References

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ABSTRACT
A series of advances in organic memory technology is demonstrated that enable an entirely new low-cost memory technology. Researchers incorporate these advances with the one of the most flexible material PLASTIC. This novel memory technology can be utilized in a three-dimensional onetime- programmable storage array. Without the prohibitive costs of silicon processing, this memory is capable of setting cost points several orders of magnitude lower than their inorganic counterparts. They have also successfully integrated this technology onto flexible plastic substrates. Combined with stacking, these vertical memory elements can create ROM densities denser than many inorganic memories, at a fraction of the cost. A conducting plastic has the potential to store a mega bit of data in a millimeter- square device-10 times denser than current magnetic memories. This device is cheap and fast, but cannot be rewritten, so would only be suitable for permanent storage. The device sandwiches a blob of a conducting polymer called PEDOT and a silicon diode between perpendicular wires. The key to the new technology was discovered by passing high current through PEDOT (Polyethylenedioxythiophene) which turns it into an insulator, rather like blowing a fuse .The polymer has two possible states- conductor and insulator, that form the one and zero, necessary to store digital data. However
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tuning the polymer into an insulator involves a permanent chemical change, meaning the memory can only be written once. In this review we provide the introduction & about the current state of the plastic memory. We look upon about the PEDOT material being used. We also look upon the spintronic being used in this technology. We will also see the plastic memory device structure, its working & fabrication. Also we will see its advantages over current silicon technology. We will see its limitations & application.

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION
The idea of ubiquitous computing is extremely attractive. The idea of electronics integrated into everyday items is extremely attractive, but currently well beyond the cost structure inherent to silicon chips. From integrated displays to radio-frequency identification, silicon solutions remain economically out of reach due to high material costs, processing costs, and the need for clean-room fabrication. In essence, a significant paradigm shift is necessary to enable electronics to be cheaply built in to everyday items. In recent years, there has been great interest in organic semiconductor devices, driven by their potential use in low-cost flexible displays and disposable electronics applications. As a whole, these materials allow electronics to be economically feasible for niches out of reach for their silicon-based counterparts. In particular, there exists great potential in soluble organic semiconductors, since these may potentially be used to form low-cost all-printed circuits by eliminating the

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need for many of the major semiconductor-manufacturing cost points, including lithography, physical and chemical vapor deposition, plasma etching, and the waste management costs associated with subtractive processing. In addition, the electrical performance of organic devices rivals that of Si thin film transistors, making them suitable for a broad range of applications. The major focus points of organic-based electronics to date include chemical sensors, displays and the pixel addressing circuits.

1.1

MARKET VALUE OF ORGANIC DEVICES

A report suggests that the market of the organic devices is rising exponentially every year & its market value will become more then 250 billion dollars by 2025. It will become 300 billion dollar market within next 20 years.

Fig 1: organic devices Market value

1.2 OVERVIEW OF PLASTIC MEMORY

Plastic memory is one kind of organic semiconductor device. Imagine a scenario where the memory stored in your digital camera or personal digital assistant is partially based on one of the most flexible materials made by man: PLASTIC. Scientis ts at HP Labs and Princeton University are excited a new memory technology that could store more data and cost less than traditional siliconbased chips for mobile devices such as handheld computers, cell phones and MP3 players. A conducting plastic has been used to create a new memory technology with the potential to store a megabit of data in a millimeter-square device - 10 times denser than current magnetic memories. The device should also be cheap and fast, but cannot be rewritten, so would only be suitable for permanent storage. The beauty of the device is that it combines the best of silicon technology - diodes - with the capability to form a fuse, which does not exist in
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silicon," says Vladimir Bulovic, who works on organic electronics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This utilizes a previously unknown property of a cheap, transparent plastic called PEDOT - short for Polyethylenedioxythiophene. The inventors say that data densities as high as a megabit per square millimeter can be possible. By stacking layers of memory, a cubic centimeter device could hold as much as a gigabyte and be cheap enough to compete with CDs and DVD. However, turning the polymer INTO an insulator involves a permanent chemical change, meaning the memory can only be written to once. Its creators say this makes it ideal for archiving images and other data directly from a digital camera.

Fig 2: Plastic Memory

The product is still in process & many big companies are behind the development of this technology which can change our future of memory devices. Following companies are working on plastic memory devices.

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Fig 3: companies working on plastic memory

CHAPTER 2

TYPES OF MEMORY
2.1 INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER MEMORY
Computer memory refers to devices that are used to store data or programs (sequences of instructions) on a temporary or permanent basis for use in an electronic digital computer. Computers represent information in binary code, written as sequences of 0s and 1s. Each binary digit (or "bit") may be stored by any physical system that can be in either of two stable states, to represent 0 and 1. Such a system is called bistable. This could be an on-off switch, an electrical capacitor that can store or lose a charge, a magnet with its polarity up or down, or a surface that can have a pit or

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not. Computer memory is usually referred to the semiconductor technology that is used to store information in electronic devices. In order to enable computers to work faster, there are several types of memory available today. Within a single computer there is more than one type of memory.
MEMORY

NON VOLATILE MEMORY

VOLATILE MEMORY

ROM

HYBRID

RAM

Memory is divided into:

1. NON VOLATILE MEMORY:

In this memory retains the stored information even when the Electrical power has been turned off. It is of two types: a) ROM b) HYBRID 1. VOLATILE MEMORY: It loses the stored data as soon as the system is turned off. It requires a constant power supply to retain the stored information.RAM is type of volatile memory.

2.2 RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY (RAM)

Random-access memory (RAM) is a form of computer data storage. Today, it takes the form of integrated circuits that allow stored data to be accessed in any order in a constant time, regardless of its physical location and whether it is related to the previous piece of data. RAM is often associated with volatile types of memory (such as DRAM memory modules), where its stored information is lost if the power is removed. The first RAM modules to come into the market were created in 1951 and were sold until the late 1960s and early 1970s.

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The RAM family includes two important memory devices:

1. Static RAM (SRAM) 2. Dynamic RAM (DRAM).

The primary difference between them is the lifetime of the data they store. SRAM retains its contents as long as electrical power is applied to the chip. If the power is turned off or lost temporarily, its contents will be lost forever. DRAM, on the other hand, has an extremely short data lifetime-typically about four milliseconds. This is true even when power is applied constantly. 2.2.1 DYNAMIC RAM (DRAM) Dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) has an extremely short data lifetimetypically about four milliseconds. This is true even when power is applied constantly. It is a type of random-access memory that stores each bit of data in a separate capacitor within an integrated circuit. The capacitor can be either charged or discharged; these two states are taken to represent the two values of a bit, conventionally called 0 and 1. Since capacitors leak charge, the information eventually fades unless the capacitor charge is refreshed periodically. Fig 4: A DRAM Thus DRAM can only hold data for a short period of time and must be refreshed periodically. DRAMs are measured by storage capability and access time. A simple piece of hardware called a DRAM controller can be used to make DRAM behave more like SRAM. The job of the DRAM controller is to periodically refresh the data stored in the DRAM. By refreshing the data before it expires, the contents of memory can be kept alive for as long as they are needed. The main memory (the "RAM") in personal computers is Dynamic RAM (DRAM), as is the "RAM" of home game consoles (PlayStation, Xbox 360 and Wii), laptop, notebook and workstation computers. A lower cost-per-byte makes DRAM attractive whenever large amounts of RAM are required. 2.2.2 STATIC RAM (SRAM) Static random-access memory (SRAM) retains its contents as long as electrical power is applied to the chip. If the power is turned off or lost temporarily, its contents will be lost forever. SRAM is a type of semiconductor memory where the word static indicates that, unlike dynamic RAM (DRAM), it does not need to be periodically refreshed, as SRAM uses bistable latching circuitry to store each bit. SRAM exhibits data remanence, but is still volatile in the conventional sense that data is lost when the memory is not powered. SRAM is more expensive,

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but faster and significantly less power hungry (especially idle) than DRAM. It is therefore used where either bandwidth or low power, or both, are principal considerations. SRAM is also easier to control (interface to) and generally more truly random access than modern types of DRAM. Due to a more complex internal structure, SRAM is less dense than DRAM and is therefore not 5: A SRAMhighFig used for capacity, low-cost applications such as the main memory in personal computers. SRAM is used in personal computers, workstations, routers, hard disk buffers, router buffers, etc. LCD screens and printers also normally employ static RAM to hold the image displayed (or to be printed). Small SRAM buffers are also found in CD-ROM and CD-RW drives.

2.3 READ ONLY MEMORY (ROM)

Read-only memory (ROM) is a class of storage media used in computers and other electronic devices. Data stored in ROM cannot be modified, or can be modified only slowly or with difficulty, so it is mainly used to distribute firmware (software that is very closely tied to specific hardware and unlikely to need frequent updates. Memories in the ROM family are distinguished by the methods used to write new data to them (usually called programming), and the number of times they can be rewritten. This classification reflects the evolution of ROM devices from hardwired to programmable to erasable-andprogrammable. A common feature of all these devices is their ability to retain data and programs forever, even during a power failure. They are classified as: 1. Hardwired ROM 2. PROM 3. EPROM 2.3.1 HARDWIRED ROM The very first ROMs were hardwired devices that contained a preprogrammed set of data or instructions. The contents of the ROM had to be specified before chip production, so the actual data could be used to arrange the transistors inside the chip. Hardwired memories are still used, though they are now called masked ROMs to distinguish them from other types of ROM. The primary advantage of a masked ROM is its low production cost. Unfortunately, the cost is low only when large quantities of the same ROM are required.
Fig 6: ROM

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2.3.2 PROGRAMMABLE ROM (PROM) One step up from the masked ROM is the PROM (programmable ROM), which is purchased in an unprogrammed state. If you were to look at the contents of an unprogrammed PROM, you would see that the data is made up entirely of l's. The process of writing your data to the PROM involves a special piece of equipment called a device programmer. The device programmer writes data to the device one word at a time by applying an electrical charge to the input pins of the chip. Once a PROM has been programmed in this way, its contents can never be changed. If the code or data stored in the PROM must be changed, the current device must be discarded. As a result, PROMs are also known as one-time programmable (OTP) devices. A programmable read-only memory (PROM) or one-time programmable nonvolatile memory (OTP NVM) is a form of digital memory where the Fig 7: A PROM chip setting of each bit is locked by a fuse or antifuse. Such PROMs store programs permanently. The key difference from a strict ROM is that the programming is applied after the device is constructed. PROMs are manufactured blank and, depending on the technology, can be programmed at wafer, final test, or in system. The availability of this technology allows companies to keep a supply of blank PROMs in stock, and program them at the last minute to avoid large volume commitment. These types of memories are frequently seen in video game consoles, mobile phones, radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags, implantable medical devices, high-definition multimedia interfaces (HDMI) and in many other consumer and automotive electronics products. 2.3.3 ERASABLE & PROGRAMMABLE ROM (EPROM) An EPROM (erasable-and-programmable ROM) is programmed in exactly the same manner as a PROM. However, EPROMs can be erased and reprogrammed repeatedly. To erase an EPROM, you simply expose the device to a strong source of ultraviolet light. A window in the top of the device allows Microcontrollers the light to reach the silicon. By doing this, you essentially reset the entire chip to its initial unprogrammed Fig 8: An EPROM chip state. Though more expensive than PROMs, their

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ability to be reprogrammed makes EPROMs an essential part of the software development and testing process. An EPROM or erasable programmable read only memory is a type of memory chip that retains its data when its power supply is switched off. In other words, it is non-volatile. It is an array of floating-gate transistors individually programmed by an electronic device that supplies higher voltages than those normally used in digital circuits. EPROMs are easily recognizable by the transparent fused quartz window in the top of the package, through which the silicon chip is visible, and which permits exposure to UV light during erasing. For large volumes of parts (thousands of pieces or more), maskprogrammed ROMs are the lowest cost devices to produce. However, these require many weeks lead time to make, since the artwork for an IC mask layer must be altered to store data on the ROMs. Initially, it was thought that the EPROM would be too expensive for mass production use and that it would be confined to development only. It was soon found that small-volume production was economical with EPROM parts, particularly when the advantage of rapid upgrades of firmware was considered. Some microcontrollers, from before the era of EEPROMs and flash memory, use an on-chip EPROM to store their program. Such microcontrollers include some versions of the Intel 8048, the free scale 68HC11, and the "C" versions of the PIC microcontroller. Like EPROM chips, such microcontrollers came in windowed (expensive) versions that were useful for debugging and program development. The same chip came in (somewhat cheaper) opaque OTP packages for production. Leaving the die of such a chip exposed to light can also change behavior in unexpected ways when moving from a windowed part used for development to a non-windowed part for production.

Fig 9: EPROM chip

2.4 HYBRID MEMORY

As memory technology has matured in recent years, the line between RAM and ROM has blurred. Now, several types of memory combine features of both. These devices do not belong to either group and can be collectively referred to as

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hybrid memory devices. Hybrid memories can be read and written as desired, like RAM, but maintain their contents without electrical power, just like ROM. Hybrid memories are of following types:
1. EEPROM 2. FLASH MEMORY 3. NVRAM

2.4.1 ELECTRICALLY ERASABLE & PROGRAMMABLE ROM (EEPROM) Electrically-erasable-and-programmable (EEPROM) is similar to EPROMs, but the erase operation is accomplished electrically, rather than by exposure to ultraviolet light. Any byte within an EEPROM may be erased and rewritten. Once written, the new data will remain in the device forever-or at least until it is electrically erased. The primary tradeoff for this improved functionality is higher cost, though write cycles are also significantly longer than writes to a RAM. So you wouldn't want to use an EEPROM for your main system memory. EEPROM is user-modifiable read-only memory (ROM) that can be erased and reprogrammed (written to) repeatedly through the application of higher than normal electrical voltage generated externally or internally in the case of modern EEPROMs. EPROM usually must be removed from the device for erasing and programming, whereas EEPROMs can be programmed and erased in circuit. EEPROMs were limited to single byte operations which made them slower, but modern EEPROMs allow multi-byte page operations. It also has a limited life that is, the number of times it could be reprogrammed was limited to tens or hundreds of thousands of times. That limitation has been extended to a million write operations in modern EEPROMs. In an EEPROM that is frequently reprogrammed while the computer is in use, the life of the EEPROM can be an important design consideration. It is for this reason that EEPROMs were used for configuration information, rather than random access memory.

Fig 10: EEPROM chip

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2.4.2 FLASH MEMORY Flash memory combines the best features of the memory devices described so far. Flash memory devices are high density, low cost, nonvolatile, fast (to read, but not to write), and electrically reprogrammable. Flash memory is a solid-state, non-volatile, rewritable memory that functions like RAM and a hard disk combined. If power is lost, all data remains in memory. Because of its high speed, durability, and low voltage Fig 11: A Flash memory requirements, it is ideal for digital cameras, cell phones, printers, handheld computers, pagers and audio recorders. These advantages are overwhelming and, as a direct result, the use of flash memory has increased dramatically in embedded systems. From a software viewpoint, flash and EEPROM technologies are very similar. The major difference is that flash devices can only be erased one sector at a time, not byte-by-byte. Typical sector sizes are in the range 256 bytes to 16KB. Despite this disadvantage, flash is much more popular than EEPROM and is rapidly displacing many of the ROM devices as well. 2.4.4 PLASTIC MEMORY The recent development in the memory was a new form of permanent computer memory which uses plastic and may be much cheaper and faster than the existing silicon circuits which was invented by Researchers at Princeton University working with Hewlett-Packard. This memory is technically a hybrid that contains a plastic film, a flexible foil substrate and some silicon. The discovery, achieved by HP and Princeton researchers in Forrest's university laboratory, came during work with a polymer material called PEDOT - a clear conducting plastic used as coating on photographic film and as electrical contact on video displays. It was Princeton postdoctoral researcher Steven Moller, now with Hewlett Packard, who found that PEDOT conducts electricity at low voltages but permanently loses its conductivity when exposed to higher electrical currents, making it act like a circuit breaker.

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CHAPTER 3

INTRODUCTION TO PEDOT
PEDOT's ability to conduct electricity means it is already used widely as the anti static coating on camera film. But until now, no one suspected that it could be converted into an insulator. The material is a blend of a negatively-charged polymer called PSS and a positively-charged one called PEDT+. Having distinct, charged components allows it to conduct electricity and means that it is water soluble. The team is not sure why it stops conducting when high currents pass through. But Princeton researcher Stephen Forrest suspects that the heat produced by a high current gives the PSS- layer sufficient energy to snatch a positively-charged hydrogen ion from any water that has dissolved on its surface, forming a neutral PSSH. Without the negatively-charged PSS- to stabilize it, PED+ in turn grabs on to an extra electron and also becomes neutral, converting PEDOT into an insulating polymer. PEDOT is a relatively new member in the conductingpolymer family. It shows interesting properties, including relatively good electrochemical, ambient, and thermal stability of its electrical properties as compared with that of otherpolythiophenes. PEDOT is built from ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) monomers. It is insoluble in many common solvents and unstable in its neutral state, as it oxidizes rapidly in air. To improve its process ability, a polyelectrolyte solution (PSS) can be added, and this results in an aqueous dispersion

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of PEDOT: PSS, where PEDOT is its oxidized state. Each phenyl ring of the PSS monomer has one acidic SO3H (suffocate) group as shown in fig 12.

Fig 12: structure of PEDOT

PEDOT: PSS is industrially synthesized from the EDOT monomer, and PSS as a template polymer using sodium peroxodisulfate as the oxidizing agent. This affords PEDOT in its highly conducting, cationic form. If high boiling solvents like methylpyrrolidone, dimethyl sulfoxide, are added conductivity increases many orders of magnitude which makes it also suitable as a transparent electrode, for example in touch screens, organic lightemitting diodes and electronic paper to replace the traditionally used indium tin oxide. Due to the high conductivity (up to 1000 S/cm are possible), it can be used as a cathode material in capacitors replacing manganese dioxide or liquid electrolytes. A conductive layer on glass is obtained by spreading a layer of the dispersion on the surface usually by spin coating and driving out the water by heat. Special PEDOT: PSS inks and formulations were developed for different coating and printing processes. Water based PEDOT: PSS inks are mainly used in slot die coating, flexography, rotogravure and inkjet printing.

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CHAPTER 4

SPINTRONICS
4.1 INTRODUCTION TO SPINTRONIC
Conventional electronic devices rely on the transport of electrical charge carriers electrons - in a semiconductor such as silicon. Now, however, physicists are trying to exploit the 'spin' of the electron rather than its charge to create a remarkable new generation of 'spintronic' devices which will be smaller, more versatile and more robust than those currently making up silicon chips and circuit elements. The potential market is worth hundreds of billions of dollars a year. Spintronics or spin electronics is an emerging technology that exploits the intrinsic spin of the electron rather than its charge, as is the case with

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current electronic devices as shown in below figure. The technology promises microelectronic devices that can store more data in less space, process data faster, and consume less power. Researchers at Ohio State University (OSU) have now demonstrated the first plastic memory device that utilizes the spin of electrons to read and write data.

OSUs Arthur J. Epstein and colleagues have created a Fig 13: What is Spintronic? prototype plastic spintronic device using techniques found in the mainstream computer industry today. At this point, the device is little more than a thin strip of dark blue organic-based magnet layered with a metallic ferromagnet (a magnet made of ferrous metal such as iron) and connected to two electrical leads. Still, the researchers successfully recorded data on it and retrieved the data by controlling the spins of the electrons with a magnetic field. Epstein, Distinguished University Professor of physics and chemistry and director of the Institute for Magnetic and Electronic Polymers at OSU, described the material as a hybrid of a semiconductor that is made from organic materials and a special magnetic polymer semiconductor. As such, it is a bridge between todays computers and the all-polymer, spintronic computers that he and his partners hope to enable in the future.

4.2 CHARGE VS SPIN

Normal electronics encode computer data based on a binary code of ones and zeros, depending on whether an electron is present in a void within the material. But researchers have long known that electrons can be polarized to orient in particular directions, like a bar magnet. They refer to this orientation as spin either spin up or spin down and have been working on a way to store data using spin. The resulting electronics, dubbed Spintronics, would effectively let computers store and transfer twice as much data per electron. But higher data density is only part of the story. Spintronics is often just seen as a way to get more information out of an electron, but really its about moving to the next generation of electronics, a

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researcher said. We could solve many of the problems facing computers today by using spintronic. One advantage of spin over charge is that spin can be easily manipulated by externally applied magnetic fields, a property already in use in magnetic storage technology. Another more subtle (but potentially significant) property of spin is its long coherence, or relaxation, timeonce created it tends to stay that way for a long time, unlike charge states, which are easily destroyed by scattering or collision with defects, impurities or other charges. These characteristics open the possibility of developing devices that could be much smaller, consume less electricity and be more powerful for certain types of computations than is possible with electron-charge-based systems. Typical circuit boards use a lot of energy. Moving electrons through them creates heat, and it takes a lot of energy to cool them. Chip makers are limited in how closely they can pack circuits together to avoid overheating. Flipping the spin of an electron requires less energy, and produces hardly any heat at all. That means that spintronic devices could run on smaller batteries. If they were made out of plastic, they would also be light and flexible.

4.3 READ & WRITE USING SPINTRONICS

All spintronic devices act according to the simple scheme: (1) Information is stored (written) into spins as a particular spin orientation (up or down). (2) The spins, being attached to mobile electrons, carry the information along a wire. (3) The information is read at a terminal.

Fig 14: 1 & 0 in spintronic

CHAPTER 5

PLASTIC MEMORY DEVICE

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A method of storing the digital information by using the plastic called PEDOT & one of its property that a plastic conducts electricity at low voltages & acts as insulator at high voltages is called as Plastic Memory.

5.1 ABOUT THE TECHNOLOGY

A conducting plastic has been used to create a new memory technology with the potential to store a megabit of data in a millimeter-square device - 10 times denser than current magnetic memories. The device should also be cheap and fast, but cannot be rewritten, so would only be suitable for permanent storage. The plastic memory technology is all solid state based. The absence of moving parts in itself offers a substantial speed advantage compared to all mechanical systems, like magnetic hard disks and optical systems. The memory is developed by thin film technology has undergone stringent reliability tests at temperatures between -40 and 1 10C. The results underline the exceptional stability of the polymer memory and compliance with military and commercial standard tests. The thin film polymers can be switched from one state to the other and maintain that state even when the electrical field is turned off. This polymer is "smart", to the extent that functionality is built into the material itself, like switch ability, addressability and charge store. Polymer devices can be sprayed or printed, and are therefore much cheaper than silicon devices, which must be etched. Turning the polymer into an insulator involves a permanent chemical change, meaning the memory can only be written to once. Its creators say this makes it ideal for archiving images and other data directly from a digital camera, cell phone or PDA, like an electronic version of film negatives.

5.2 STRUCTURE OF PLASTIC MEMORY

5.2.1 BASIC PROPERTY OF PLASTIC While experimenting with a polymer material known as PEDOT, Princeton University researcher Sven Moller determined that although the plastic conducts electricity at low voltages, it permanently loses its conductivity when exposed to higher voltages. Together with colleagues from Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, he developed a method to take advantage of this property to store digital information, which can be stored as collections of ones and zeros.

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5.2.2 DEVICE STRUCTURE Plastic memory contains a plastic film, a flexible foil substrate and some silicon. Figure1 depicts the basic structure of the plastic memory. As shown in figure 15 a plastic memory has two metal electrodes and a polymer layer is sandwiched between two electrodes.

Fig15: Basic structure

A two-terminal device in which an organic semiconducting polymer is sandwiched between two electrodes, indium doped tin oxide (ITO) and aluminum as shown in figure 16.

Fig16: A plastic memory device

The experimental devices contain two polymer layers:

The first layer consists of PEDOT: PSS to which an inorganic salt (e.g. lithium triflate) and plasticizer (ethylene carbonate, EC) have been added. The second layer consists of poly (3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) doped with the plasticizer.

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Motion of the ions present in the device under influence of an electric field is expected to induce switching between a high and a low conduction state, the so called ON and OFF state of a memory device.

5.3 WORKING OF PLASTIC MEMORY

The PEDOT-based memory card consists of a grid of circuits comprising polymer fuses. A large applied current causes specific fuses to "blow" leaving a mix of functioning and nonfunctioning connections. 5.3.1 STORING OF DATA IN THE MEMORY

Fig16: Storing of data in plastic memory using spintronic

Any data like image, sound, video etc are stored as a stream of ones & zeros. They use spintronic rather than the charge of an electron. We apply a large current to write the data. The memory material i.e. PEDOT is a ferroelectric polymer. When an electric field is applied across the polymer chains are rotated. The respective orientation represents zero & one. Large applied current makes some of the switches blow some switches making some connection to function & some non -functioning. Functioning switches are written. All spintronic devices act according to the simple scheme: (1) Information is stored (written) into spins as a particular spin orientation (up or down).

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(2) The spins, being attached to mobile electrons, carry the information along a wire.

5.3.2 READING & ERASING OF DATA When a lower current is later used to read the data, a blown fuse blocks current flow and is read as OFF, whereas a working fuse is interpreted as ON. Working fuse contains data. The data is read from ON switches. Because the storage method involves a physical change to the device, it is a so-called WORM-- write once, read many times--technology. For erasing of data voltage required should be greater than the voltage applied for writing.

Fig 17: ON & OFF state of memory

Fig 18: Read write & Erase in plastic memory

5.3.1 READ WRITE ERASE CYCLE:

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Fig 19: Read-Write-Erase Cycle in memory

Figure 19 shows Read-Write-Erase Cycle. (1) A -6V pulse is applied to bring the memory in its written state. (2) The memory is read at -2.5V below i.e. at -3.5 V. (3) A +6V pulse is applied to erase to memory.

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CHAPTER 6

FABRICATION
6.1 REEL TO REEL SYSTEM
For fabrication of plastic memory we use Reel to Reel system. As opposed to silicon processing, the process for making all-printed plastic circuits is fully additive. That is, lithographic patterning steps and film etching costs are directly removed from production costs. Also, if all layers of the circuit are printed, vacuum deposition processes can also be eliminated, further reducing costs. By combining the technology of fully-printed organic circuits with flexible substrate technology, ultralow costs are achieved on what is dubbed a Reel-to-Reel system. In the reel-to-reel system, illustrated in Figure 20, the complete fabrication of the organic circuits is accomplished on a track-like system. During the procedure, the source plastic substrate resides on a large spindle, pictured to the left in Figure 20. This roll is unwound during the process, and the plastic surface passes underneath several deposition stages. Each stage is responsible for the deposition of a device layer through a solution printing process such as inkjet, screen-printing, or gravure. In this process, the deposition source is responsible for lateral pattern control, while the reel motion is responsible for advancing the substrate inline. This is similar to the operation of a commercial inkjet printer, where the print head moves across the sheet, and the paper feed controls the rate at which the sheet passes underneath the head. Finally, the substrate can be rolled at the destination spindle. Once the process is complete, the spindle can be removed, and the individual dies can be cut, separated, and packaged for use. An example of a commercial reel-toreel system is shown in Figure 21.

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Fig 20:Reel-to-reel system for printing circuits

Fig 21: Commercial reel-to-reel printer

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6.2 FABRICATION PROCESS

The glass substrate is cleaned. First, the glass substrates were sonicated in the order of detergent, de-ionized water, acetone, and isopropanol, and then baked in an oven at about 80 C to prepare for fabrication. A substrate-moving system allows the deposition of each layer of the device without breaking the vacuum of the chamber. The organic compound and metal material we used are tin and Al, respectively. At first, a tin film was deposited on the precleaned glass substrate at a deposition rate of 3 / s for the bottom electrode. Polymer PEDOT: PSS is deposited with P3HT. Then Al film was deposited sequentially to form the top electrode layers. The Al electrode & tin electrode are connected together with a voltage supply. All electrical measurements were done in ambient condition. The device structure is shown in Figure 22.

Fig 22: A plastic memory device after fabrication

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CHAPTER 7

COMPARISON OF PLASTIC MEMORY WITH SILICON MEMORY

1)

SPEED: Plastic memory is fast. Lab-built devices with a 1GB storage capacity have yielded read/write cycle times that are 10 times faster than Compact Flash, which are typically 2-10MB/s read, 1-4MB/s write.

2) NO. OF TRANSISTORS:

It requires far fewer transistors, typically only 0.5M (million) for 1GB of storage compared to silicon's 1.5-6.5B (billion).
3) COST:

It costs about 5% as much to manufacture compared to silicon based memory.

4)

3D SPACE USAGE: It can be stacked vertically in a product, yielding 3D space usage; silicon chips can only be set beside each other.

5)

POWER CONSUMPTION: It has very low power consumption as it uses spintronics for producing data.

6)

AREA: The control circuitry only occupies 1-5% of total transistor area.

7)

It maintains memory even when the power is turned off. Nothing new compared to flash, but worth mentioning.

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CHAPTER 8

ADVANTAGES & LIMITATIONS

8.1 ADVANTAGES
1) SIZE & INFORMATION:

One million bits of information could fit into a square millimeter of material the thickness of a sheet of paper. A block just a cubic centimeter in size could contain as many as 1,000 high-quality digital images.
2) STORE MORE DATA THEN FLASH MEMORY:

Technology could potentially store more data than flash, and perhaps even become fast enough to store video.
3) NO MOVING PART:

Unlike a CD, reading data stored on this memory block does not involve any moving parts or a laser. Instead it can be plugged directly into a circuit.
4) SOLVE VIRUS HACKERS PROBLEMS:

A PEDOT-based machine could solve the problem of virus hackers, who rely on the fact they cannot afford to leave a trace out of fear of being caught for their dirty work. With PEDOT-based solutions, researchers said hackers would not be able to erase their IP addresses.
5) Scientists suggest, and producing it wouldn't require high temperatures or

vacuum chambers. 6) Its a very cheap technology which gives it an upper hand over other technology. 1) Its flexible compared to other silicon devices. It is Eco-friendly & non-toxic.

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8.2 LIMITATIONS
1) Read many times but it can be written only ones. So for replacing the current technology we need to find a way so that they can be written more than once.
2) The biggest challenge is developing a good production technique. The Reel to

Reel technique is not very good technique for production. Printing can introduce problems with semiconductor ordering, including poor molecular alignment and decreased grain size, and results in material performance lower than with methods such as spin-casting.
3) The scientists have made plastic memory using PEDOT till now. The

capabilities of the PEDOT material depend widely on the solvent ratios and deposition method. While these results are favorable for a polymer film, much higher conductivities are required for large products. So, new polymer has to be find which can be used for all kind of products.
4) This technology is still under research, so it will take about 5yrs to launch in

the market.

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CHAPTER 9

APPLICATION
1) RADIO FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION(RFID): A specific target application for low-cost organic devices is the radio frequency identification tag (RFID). These passive devices could be used on commercial products to assist in tracking, inventory control, and theft prevention. RFID chips require less human manipulation to read, and contain far more data than bar codes. Since RFID systems allow tags to be read at a distance, they can expedite in-store check-out, and control warehouse inventory with little human supervision. 2) ELECTRONIC MAP: The flexible nature of the memory is also a valuable attribute that cannot be achieved by its silicon counterparts. By combining with electro chromic displays, these memories could be used to create electronic maps on paper or plastic substrates. Unlike GPS systems with expensive handheld devices, these reel-to-reel maps could be folded into a back pocket, and could be created at such low cost via the reel-to-reel fabrication that they could be entirely disposable.
3) GRAPHICS ON SHIRTS:

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If the technology were integrated with flexible displays, Plastic memory could be used to store image files to be displayed on the display mounted on the shirt surface. Suddenly, shirts with a single graphic could be a thing of the past. This idea could be expanded to include commercial signage with no silicon components, and images stored on built-in plastic memories. 4) MEDICAL APPLICATION: It can be used in tiny sensors which can work 24 hrs to track blood pressure, heart rate, sugar level. 5) DEFENCE APPLICATION: Think about soldiers in the field who have to carry heavy battery packs, or even civilian road warriors commuting to meetings. If we had a lighter weight device which operates itself at a lower energy cost, and if we could make it on a flexible polymer display, soldiers and other users could just roll it up and carry it. We see this portable technology as a powerful platform for helping people. 6) OTHER APPLICATION: Specific applications could include active wear with built-in mp3 players. It can also be used in Digital camera for archiving images.

CONCLUSION
Plastic memory is much cheaper and faster than the existing silicon a circuit was invented by Researchers at Princeton University working with HewlettPackard. Plastic memory is a combination of materials that could lower the cost and boost the density of electronic memory. It is an all-organic memory system with manifold advantages: in speed, production, energy consumption, storage capacity and cost. The memory cannot be rewritten, but can be read very fast and with low power consumption. So this would be suitable only for permanent storage. Plastic memory uses spin of the electron rather than the charge of electron & spin of electron store more data compared to the charge. So, large amount of data can be stored in the plastic memory. The plastic memory is flexible compared to the silicon technology. It is thick like a sheet of paper so product size using plastic memory also decreases. The main challenge in developing plastic memory is the polymer for its fabrication. PEDOT cannot be used for some application like RFID where conductivity requirement is more. So, alternative polymer is to be used for fabrication. Plastic memory will be very useful for future for storing data.

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REFERENCES
1. International Symposium on Flexible Electronics (ISFE) journal, Spain.
2. IEEE paper After Hard Driveswhat comes next?- By Mark H. Kryder and

Chang Soo Kim. 3. Spintronics by Shanker Das Sharma.

4. Polymer/Organic memories by Paul Heremans. 5. Semiconducting Polymers by G. Hadziioannou, P. van Hutten. 6. The Emergence of Practical MRAM by Barry Crocus Technologies.

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Just one word plastics [organic semiconductors], IEEE Spectrum, by S. Moore.

8. On the conductivity of PEDOT: PSS thin films by Alexandre Nardes. 9. Wikipedia- wikipedia.com. 10. Mindset- mindset.com.

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